World’s first voice-augmented board game

A startup launches a voice-augmented board game that connects with Amazon’s Alexa and provides users with a multimedia experience.

London-based startup – Sensible Object – has launched the first board game in the world to use voice augmentation. ‘When In Rome’ is a trivia game on the topic of travel. It is the first in a series of social board games in Sensible Object’s Voice Originals range.

With Amazon’s Alexa hosting the game, players are guided around different cities across the globe. After setting up the board, players connect to the free When In Rome skill for Amazon Alexa. Using Alexa powered smart speakers players can learn the rules of the game as well as keep track of scores. There are 20 cities to visit in which players can ask locals questions about their cities. Question categories include ‘food and drink’, ‘slang and language’ and ‘random and strange’. Players earn points by making new friends, collecting souvenirs and earning upgrade cards.

Alex Fleetwood, CEO of Sensible Object says: “Alexa is a voice platform, and the team felt there could be no better use for it than to bring the voices of real people from around the world into players’ homes. The act of playing through listening invokes our imagination and empathy, making for a very special experience.”

Connecting to Amazon’s Alexa, ‘When In Rome’ is transforming the ways in which we interact with voice recognition technology. Currently on sale on Amazon, the board game is retailing at GBP 24.99. Innovations around the world are using augmented reality to pave the way for a new generation of immersive entertainment. For example, an augmented reality game from the UK that combines real life with geolocation digital prizes. In Australia a company is using augmented reality features to gamify the stadium experience for sports fans. What other technologies can revolutionise traditional forms of entertainment?